56 800. OF AM. TAXIDERMISTS, ANNEAL REPORT. 
your own throat financially, refuse to do poor work in return for 
poor pay. The pi-ice for mounting a deer head in this establish- 
ment has been, up to this time, $12 ; but henceforth we hope 
that Prof. Ward will not talk of doing them in our very best 
style for less than $20 to $25, including shield. As the cpiality 
of our work more neaidy approaches perfection by the discovery 
of new methods and a closer study of living animals, we find 
it necessary to devote more time to them, and our work is able 
to command a higher price. 
The man who puts too low an estimate either on himself or Ids 
work, makes a great mistake. Taxidermists injure themselves 
personally and the profession generally, by leading people to 
suppose that work can be done for a mere song. It is impossible 
for a vmrker to turn out perfect work under such conditions. 
For instance no man should agree to mount a pointer dog for 
less than $50, or a head for less than $15. A common cat should 
not be touched for less than $10. It is worth not less than $300 
to mount a horse, and a prominent Kew York artist assured me 
that there are turfmen who will be ready to pay $500 whenever 
we prove to them that it is possible to have a trotter mounted 
whose attitude, form, size and muscular development shall be like 
those of the animal in life. This same artist asserted that nearly 
all the prices on the work in the Boston exhibition of the 
Society of American Taxidermists were too low. 
If we are to do better wmrk than at present obtains, we must 
have better prices. If we do not first show what we can do 
when we try, we need not expect better patronage, and without 
this we cannot expect fo make any marked advancement. 
Wm. T. Hornaday. 
